This work was commissioned by the European Community Chamber Orchestra with the aid of funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain and the 1991 Istanbul Festival. The first performance took place on 11 July 1991 in Istanbul.

The idea for this piece occurred several years before the opportunity of writing it arose - it was during a journey in New England, in autumn, when the leaf colours were especially beautiful. Both the harmonic 'colouring' and the descending string phrase heard after the brief introduction derive from this experience. The piece is thus a miniature tone-poem, scored for an orchestra of two oboes, two horns and strings. The wind instruments, except for a few solos, are treated as pairs throughout. There is a deliberately allusive element in this work, in that the opening oboe theme recalls the style of the great American nature-poets, such as Copland and Barber, while the chromatic sensibility of the harmonic idiom forms part of a similar European tradition exemplified by, in particular, Delius and Szymanowski.

'Scored for strings with pairs of oboes and horns, this persuasive 10-minute gem’s stimulation owes to New England, the music autumnal in both inspiration and feel. McCabe’s craftsmanship is typically impeccable. A sense of passing informs the opening oboe solo. The strings suggest a mystical landscape (Stonehenge came to my mind) and the interweaving horn parts always engage the ear. Indeed Red Leaves is full of incident and expression, touching the heart and freeing the imagination in this sensitive and skilled reading.'